Paul Cataldo, senior vice president and general counsel of GSI Commerce, presents a check for $5,000 to Kelly Kreamer-Curtis, Ambler area site director of the North Penn Valley Boys & Girls Club, at Shady Grove Elementary School to support Project Learn. Photo by Bob Raines/Journal Register News Service.

AMBLER — The students at the North Penn Valley Boys & Girls Club have 5,000 new reasons to smile, thanks in part to the generosity of a major corporation.

The North Penn Valley Boys & Girls Club at Shady Grove Elementary School held a check presentation for $5,000 from an eBay Foundation grant in order to support Project Learn Ambler, a free after-school homework program.

The check presentation was made by Paul Cataldo, senior vice president and general counsel of GSI Commerce, an eBay Inc. company, at the school Jan. 15.

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The Boys & Girls Club has the mission “to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens,” according to the North Penn Valley Boys & Girls Club website, npvclub.org. It offers local children ages 6 to 18 a place to go after school every day, along with offering programs addressing academics, health, leadership, life skills and other areas, for just $20 per year.

According to Cataldo, eBay has a giving foundation and asked various affiliated companies including GSI, located in King of Prussia, if they knew of any worthy organizations that it could award a grant to from its giving foundation. He, along with Robert Kreamer, CEO of the NPVBGC, applied for the grant and was accepted.

“This is an organization I know a lot about,” Cataldo said. “I’ve been very involved, known Bob for years and I know a lot of the good work that he does for the Boys & Girls Club and in particular this program. We’ve known them since they started this program and it’s always been a program that my family and I have tried to support ourselves. We just think they are doing great work and we think they could use these funds for a great purpose.”

Kreamer said it’s been a great opportunity for the club, now in its sophomore year in the Ambler area, to move into Shady Grove this past year because it has allowed the program to double the number of students it can help to 30. Last school year, the program operated out of the Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard.

Kreamer said the grant money will allow the program to add additional staff.

“One of the things we had not anticipated was that the building’s kind of chopped up,” he said. “So staff have to stay in the rooms, but the kids are not able to use the gymnasium, which is available. So we needed an additional staff person to pick the kids up from the rooms and take them over to the gym.”

“We’re really excited about the grant from eBay,” said Kelly Kreamer-Curtis, NPVBGC Ambler area site director. “It’s going to allow us to get supplies for the students.”

Kreamer-Curtis said working with the students after school creates a constant demand for school supplies like pencils, paper and extra notebooks. She said the money will also be used for gym supplies so students can use the gym after they finish their homework and extra books for the club’s library because students love reading new books.

“Obviously the contribution from eBay is tremendous to help us get to the end of the school year,” Kreamer said. “It’s a big, big help for the program and for the kids who get serviced by this program.”